A biologist’s husband disappears. She puts her name forward for an expedition into an environmental disaster zone, but does not find what she’s expecting. The expedition team is made up of the biologist, an anthropologist, a psychologist, a surveyor, and a linguist.

I hadn’t read the book Annihilation is based on (of the same name) heading into this movie, but it’s safe to say now after seeing it that I probably expected a lot different from it than what I got. The movie follows our leading lady played by the always solid Natalie Portman who is taken along with four other women and sent into Area X after her husband who had been gone randomly shows back up and isn’t at all like he was before. Once in the area, things are very hyper-reality and that is where the visually stunning side of the movie comes into play. I won’t argue that the movie is very well shot and looks amazing. But I feel the movie ultimately turns out to be a very somber sizzle without much steak behind it. It’s probably just what someone wanting something artsy will call amazing, but if you want some action (which is far and in between) and something a little more up and running, this might not turn out to be the movie for you.

This comes from director Alex Garland who gave us such things as 28 Days Later and Ex Machina. This is way more Ex Machina than 28 Days later, which is interesting due to the fact that I wasn’t crazy about Ex Machina either despite everyone I know going on and on about it. Garland really gets the visual side of his films down to a tee, but I feel like Annihilation is a movie that calls on a lot of emotion as well and despite Portman’s best effort I feel that side of things just feels cold and distant and doesn’t really suck you into the weird situation we’re watching on the screen. I don’t know if the other two books from this trilogy are going to adapted for the screen, but if they are I hope they come with a little more life in them than what we get here. This movie won’t disappoint you visually, but it’ll be one of those art-types argue the value of with you until you are blue in the face despite not having much besides the obvious to back their claim up.

Extras

– Part 1 – Southern Research
– Part 2 – Area X
– Part 3 – To the Lighthouse